ABSTRACT
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research in engineering education has increased over the past few years as inequities in education have become more visible. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disparity in educational access globally, while the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has shed light on racism and police brutality that affects Black communities not only in the United States but also worldwide. Researchers and students have responded to these recent events and movements with a demand for transformative change in institutional culture, including engineering. Engineering education researchers and funding organizations have responded by expanding DEI research. Yet most US-based, DEI-related engineering education research continues to focus on reductionist approaches, such as framing the need for DEI initiatives using economic motives. While some may speak of DEI work as necessary to transform institutions, engineering discourse does not always equate DEI work with this transformative action or take action to support such efforts. This chapter describes how DEI has been framed and enacted in engineering education research, primarily in the United States. We discuss recent scholarship that advocates for methodological activism – that is, the intentional use of theories and methods to enact transformative change – and pluralistic approaches in engineering education research.
